They walked for a while without encountering many other students. The Pokémon Breeding Center was massive, so students who entered might not cross paths with another soul until they left. Although the center was established by the academy and housed school-raised Pokémon, they were generally docile and would not attack people without reason.
However, this did not mean they would never attack humans. Some Pokémon in the center were very wary of people. If someone trespassed into their territory, they would likely attack the intruder.
Now, Eichi and Tetsu faced such a situation. They had inadvertently stumbled into an Ariados's territory.
They had entered a densely wooded area. The tall, leafy trees blocked the sunlight, making the area somewhat dim. Suddenly, a pair of red eyes appeared in the darkness, followed by several more red eyes. Tetsu was startled. To Eichi's eye, the owners of these red eyes were Ariados and Spinarak. A strand of white string suddenly appeared around the two of them. A Spinarak was attached to the end of the string.
They had seemingly disturbed a hornet's nest. A continuous stream of Ariados and Spinarak crawled out of the jungle. They all fixed their gaze on Eichi and Tetsu. "They don't seem happy to see us," Tetsu said, sounding a little frightened.
"Of course not," Eichi replied. "We must have trespassed into their territory."
As he spoke, an Ariados attacked without a word. A strand of white string shot out from its mouth. Its attack served as a signal. All the other Ariados and Spinarak began to use String Shot. Tetsu and Eichi quickly dodged, but there were too many threads, and they were all extremely fast. Consequently, the slower Tetsu was directly tied up and fell to the ground.
Seeing this, Eichi immediately sent out Heracross. "Heracross, use Bullet Seed!" Heracross let out a cry. It immediately used Bullet Seed toward the surrounding Ariados and Spinarak. The seeds shot out rapidly in all directions. The surrounding Ariados dared not take the hit and hurriedly dodged the attack.
Taking advantage of the moment, Eichi rushed to break the threads wrapped around Tetsu, but the silk was sticky and stuck to Tetsu's body, resisting his pull. "It's no good. I can't tear it off," Eichi said. "It's glued on." "Heracross, use Slash to cut the silk on Tetsu!" Heracross stopped its Bullet Seed attack and firmly brought its arm down on the silk wrapped around Tetsu.
Tetsu quickly squeezed his eyes shut, afraid Heracross might accidentally hit him. With a "smack," Tetsu cautiously opened his eyes. The silk on his body was gone.
Because Heracross stopped attacking, the hiding Ariados and Spinarak reemerged.
Seeing their posture, Eichi cried out, "Watch out, run! They are about to use Poison Sting!" He turned and ran immediately. Tetsu turned his head and was terrified. The Ariados and Spinarak were materializing countless shining needles in mid-air and shooting them toward them. Tetsu ran at a frantic pace, shouting as he ran, "Eichi, wait for me!" Just a few steps after Tetsu started running, the Poison Sting hit the spot where he had been standing. Heracross flapped its wings and chased after them. The Ariados and Spinarak pursued them from behind.
After Eichi and Tetsu ran for a distance and confirmed the Ariados were no longer following, they stopped to rest. "That was really dangerous!" Tetsu said, panting. "I might not be scared of just a few Ariados, but their numbers were overwhelming." "We need to be more careful going forward," Eichi warned. "Even with the Positioning Alarm, it can't guarantee our absolute safety." Tetsu still felt uneasy. "Yes, we must be careful."
Eichi had observed the group earlier. The Ariados and Spinarak generally had Good Talent Grade, but the leader Ariados was Outstanding. Although its talent is Outstanding, the light-blue flame inside its body is strange. A large amount of white flame is mixed in with the blue flame. It was precisely these white flames that allowed the leader Ariados to reach Outstanding Talent Grade.
Is this related to the Overlord Aura? Eichi wondered. He temporarily pushed the question aside. The most important thing now was to help Tetsu pick a Pokémon.
They continued forward. Eichi told Tetsu that the Ariados he had just seen was very good, but Tetsu was not interested; he didn't like it. Subsequently, the two were much more cautious but still inevitably intruded into the territories of other Pokémon. This time, it was a single Ursaring's territory, accompanied by two Teddiursa. The Ursaring was at the Experienced Trainer Rank. As soon as it saw Eichi and Tetsu, it attacked.
Fortunately, it was alone. Tetsu sent out Miltank, and the two Pokémon fought fiercely. However, the Ursaring's roar and the sound of the battle must have alerted another Ursaring. The sound coming from a distance indicated that this one was much stronger than the one currently fighting Miltank. Consequently, Eichi advised Tetsu to stop the battle and leave quickly, as fighting would be unwise.
Sure enough, shortly after they left, a very ferocious Ursaring returned. Judging by the aura it exuded, it was an Elite Rank Ursaring at its peak. Even Eichi's Beedrill couldn't guarantee a victory against it.
After they left, they kept moving forward. In the following period, they continued to accidentally enter other Pokémon's territories.
Eichi could actually use his Bug Force to detect the boundaries of these Pokémon's territories, but he didn't say anything. The reason was that when he chatted with Tetsu before, Tetsu had mentioned that since childhood, whenever he went into the wild forests, he was always accompanied by an elder from his family. Those elders' Pokémon were extremely powerful, and wild Pokémon were no match for them, so Tetsu had never encountered any danger. It had been very boring. That was why he wanted to come to the Pokémon Breeding Center to catch a Pokémon himself.
Eichi didn't tell him because he wanted him to experience hardship and danger. However, with Beedrill nearby, it could protect Tetsu in a crisis, which was why Eichi felt safe taking him forward.
Although they had encountered some dangers on this trip, Tetsu didn't seem downcast at all. Conversely, he was very excited. Along the way, they also encountered some Pokémon with excellent potential, including some with Outstanding Talent. If Eichi hadn't specialized in Bug-type Pokémon, he would have been tempted to catch them. However, their luck took a turn for the worse. Suddenly, they felt an earthquake midway through their journey. Then, they heard screams for help.
They looked toward the source of the sound. It turned out to be a student being chased by a pack of Houndoom. When the student saw Eichi and Tetsu, he immediately shouted, "Run!" Seeing the pack of Houndoom behind him, Eichi and Tetsu didn't say a word and immediately turned and ran.